Neo Chronicles: Black Void
Episode 9: That Thing is Huge
Table of Contents
What the crud is that?
What the crud is that?
It rises from the wreckage and rubble like nothing's wrong with it, towering some sixty, seventy—no—that's at least eighty feet over everything else. The thing's using nearby skyscrapers as a stepping prop. Whatever the case, it's tall. It's sorta human lookin' too, at least in the sense of having two arms, two legs, a torso and a head. Beyond that, it looks just weird.
It's dark purple skin is all cracked and broken up like some molten lava that's hardened into stone. It almost looks like battle worn armor, and whatever thing it covers up seeps through the cracks as some sort of white light. If it has a face, I certainly can't tell from looking at it. Sure, I see a jaw bone, maybe something that comes together at a point that could possibly be a nose, and I think there're some indentions in about the place where its eyes would be, but you gotta squint real hard to really make any of this out.
Honestly, I'm still up in arms about its size. I've never felt so small before. I mean, sure I'm not the tallest guy around all the time, but this—this thing right here—it's huge. I don't know what to make of it. It's a monster! A big and scary monster!
“Ran,” oh shoot, I think my voice just cracked a bit. I'm scared. I don't know why I'm scared, but I am. “What the crud is that?”
“Oh Darius, you really don't wanna know.” She immediately grabs my hand and tries to pull me away from the scene. “We've gotta go, like, now.”
“Is it that bad?”
“No, it's a lot worse.”
And then I hear what's possibly the loudest, booming, bass driven sound in my head. It's like my senses are assaulted—appalled even—that such a sound exists. It drowns out everything else. Looking around, it looks like it's hitting the locals too. Everyone who was trying to flee from the scene is forced to stop just to hold their head up.
Man, this is the worst headache ever. I suddenly feel the pull of the planet's gravity bringing me to my knees. I don't think I have the strength to fight it. All because of this stupid headache. It feels like my brain is throbbing through my skull about to burst, and through it all, there's like a loud buzzing, shrilling sound and something else. I hear something that resembles a voice. Oh, what a terrible sounding voice it is. It's a voice I hope to never hear again so long as I live.
“You all have thirty-eight minutes to evacuate the planet. Those remaining will surely perish. This is not a threat, but a warning. Leave now or die on the dirt you stand in.”
Then the shrilling stops and then the rumbling and then the rest of it, and things seem to go back to normal. As bad as all that was, I definitely heard—and understood—every single word.
“Darius, we really have to go.” Ran tugs on me again, this time with much more force.
“What just happened?”
“You see that giant thing sitting on top of that building over there?” She points to the thing. “It just sent out a planet wide mind probe. Scanned your brain for whatever registers as a language and spoke through it.”
“Like telepathy?”
“Like super telepathy. It's giving us thirty-eight minutes, which is a lot more than they usually spare.”
“'They?' Who 'they?'”
“Do you honestly have to ask your questions now?” I can see the worry on her face. Ran's constantly looking back at the still giant to see if it makes any sudden moves. The beast remains stoic for now. Its mind elsewhere, not even taking the time to notice us ants here below.
“That lady right there is a Visigen. They're a race of nomads as old as whatever. They roam the universe looking for and commandeering certain planets. If it suits them, they usually kill all the locals and take it. If it doesn't, the blow it up, plain and simple.”
“And you guys just let them go on like this? Blowin' up worlds, killin' whole races? That's cool with everyone?”
“No, it's not cool, and we—and by 'we,' I mean the powers that run the galaxy and whatnot—don't let them do this. For the most part, Visigens are good people. The government lets them do their thing, but only to planets that're marked. Usually uninhabited worlds, and on the rarest of the rare occasions, planets that present a clear and present danger to everyone around them.”
“So why is it—she—here?”
“I don't know! This planet wasn't marked for anything. The only thing I can think of is it going rogue or something, but right now that doesn't matter. We need to go!”
“No! That's stupid! This is stupid. Thirty-eight minutes isn't enough time to evacuate a planet, especially one that has spots all over the place that change all the time. Most of these people are gonna die.”
“And if we don't get moving right now, we're gonna die too.”
I don't care about what she says from then on out. It just doesn't feel right leaving all these people behind. Besides, Ri'lar's still in the city somewhere, and I certainly can't leave him behind. I've kinda grown fond of the guy. So I pick up my sword and start running.
So many thoughts are rushing through my head right now that I don't know what's really going on. I want to do something to help. I want to help these people get to safety. I want to help them keep their homes. I want to help them stay alive.
And at the same time I wanna help myself. In order to do that, I need to find Ri'lar. He's my ride off world. He's my ride back home. And he's also the only one who's been lookin' out for me so far. If it wasn't for him, I'da been dead so many times already. But then again, this is all sorta his fault, but he's cool enough to actually be responsible about it, and that makes him a pretty cool guy.
Debris continues to fall from the sky as the fires rage more intently by the second. I'm at ground zero of the crash, running straight towards the source. Why am I going towards it? Maybe I can reason with her. Then again, if it is rogue then reasoning'll probably be outta the question. Do I think I can fight it? How tough can she be? Ran says it can blow up a planet, but that doesn't seem to register with me right now. Oh no, don't tell me I think I can actually beat it down. No, no, no, don't tell me that.
No, that's not what I'm goin' for. I'm gonna try an' talk. Find out why it wants to do this whatever thing, see if I can get it to change its mind. If anything, try and get more time—like a day. How long's a day here? Every planet I've been to seems to have different hours. Maybe I should ask for two days to make sure. I don't know.
It's complete chaos around. No sense of order, no sense of anything. All the people are running around like their head's been cut off—at first glance anyway. Then something interesting happens. I see someone coming out a burning building. The tower is definitely on its last leg. No tellin' when it's gonna come crumblin' down, but anyone'll tell you it'll be sooner over later, but, in spite of all that, this guy—this 4 foot green insect lookin' guy right here—don't look like nothin' from nobody, crawling around on its six legs while carrying what looks like a baby or lil' kid in his arms—rushes to get the kid to safety, and then rushes back in the building to—at least I'm assuming—to save whoever else he can. That's pretty cool.
And now that you mention it, there are some police, firemen, and ambulance folks buzzin' around doin' all they can too. Of course there's way more people runnin' around crazy like, but it's nice to know that there're at least a few good guys fightin' the good fight. And just seeing that—just being a witness to that—cements in my mind that I'm not leaving without doin' my part. Still don't know what that part is, but it's gotta be done.
My God, I'm standin' at the thing's foot. She's huge. A lot bigger up close, like fo real. This thing's toe—at least I think its a toe—is like the size of a whole boulder. It is a boulder with how rocky lookin' it is. If I shouted as loud as I could, I don't think she'd even be able to hear me all the way up there.
Wait, doesn't she use telepathy to speak? Couldn't she just read my mind? Is she readin' my mind now? That's one thing I've always hated about those kinda people. Yeah, we got like a couple of 'em back home, and they were always annoying. Talkin' like they know it all just because they read what was in your head like it's some big deal.
I run to the nearest, tallest building I can find that's still standing and take the stairs all the way to the top. I must be really pumped, because, in spite of the heavy gravity, I don't think I've ever ran this fast before. Some crazy adrenaline rushin' to my head. When I reach the top, I don't even stop to take a breath.
I'm on the roof, and it looks like it's just high enough to look at the ol' girl from the neck up. If emotions had a color, I'd be surfin' a rainbow about now. I'm super excited, all anxious, scared for my life of course, tired from the run, happy that I'm about to talk to another alien that should understand me, and worried about what exactly's gonna happen next.
I suck in my gut, take a deep breath and just go for it. No questions asked, just straight up go for it.
“Yo! Really tall—what'd she call you?—Visigen! Yeah, Visigen lady. Let's talk!”
I stand there waiting for a response for like five minutes, and the thing doesn't even budge. It's been standing there, super straight, super tall—almost like them military folk: square shoulders, straight posture, facin' forward at all times. Yeah, this lady is just lookin' all kinds a' lame about now.
“Yeah, I don't think it knows you exist.”
I turn around and see that Ran hasn't abandoned me. I can't tell you how relieved that makes me feel. Whatever her reasons, she's still here and that just—well it more or less distracts me from bein' worried, but still—I guess, I dunno, it just puts my mind at ease to know that whatever I'm tryin' to do, I'm not facing it alone.
She walks up to me, pats my back like I did a good job at somethin'—didn't really do anything, though—and says, “Well, at least you tried. Can we leave now?”
She's trying to play it cool headed. Actin' like she's all smart an' collected, but I can tell—didn't really notice it until she said “leave,” but her voice sorta trailed off. She's worried. Scared and worried. Probably a lot more than me because she actually knows about the thing. I should take that as a sign. Maybe this is God giving me fair warning. I should go. That would be the smart thing. I should go.
“No.” What am I doing? “That's not good enough.” It's like my mouth isn't listening to a single word my head is sayin'. “I'm not leaving until this thing listens to me.”
“Darius, no—”
I look at the giant. “It's cool, Ran.” Now my body's not listening. It's holding up the sword. “I got this.” Both hands on the hilt, pulling it far behind my head like a baseball bat. “But you can leave if you want.” Feet apart, firmly in place... “Cuz I'm about to do something really stupid.” and SWING. I swing that sword like there is no tomorrow.
It cuts right through the air. Everything in front of me becomes super charged. Some blue cackling electric-like energy sporadically appears, and it flies fast—like shot off from a rocket, the pulsating wave flies straight towards the giant's face. It's a smoldering direct hit. I don't much know or even care about the damage. I just wanted the freak's attention. And when I see its eyes start to shine brighter than they did before, I think it's safe to say that I got it.
“Yeah, I'm down here. Right here.” I sound so tough. Ran must think I'm a bully for doin' that. The giant turns its head toward me. Man, it feels weird with it lookin' straight at me, but I just stay cool and keep smiling. “Now, I need you to listen! I know you can understand me. Listen!”
Episode 9: That Thing is Huge
Table of Contents
What the crud is that?
What the crud is that?
It rises from the wreckage and rubble like nothing's wrong with it, towering some sixty, seventy—no—that's at least eighty feet over everything else. The thing's using nearby skyscrapers as a stepping prop. Whatever the case, it's tall. It's sorta human lookin' too, at least in the sense of having two arms, two legs, a torso and a head. Beyond that, it looks just weird.
It's dark purple skin is all cracked and broken up like some molten lava that's hardened into stone. It almost looks like battle worn armor, and whatever thing it covers up seeps through the cracks as some sort of white light. If it has a face, I certainly can't tell from looking at it. Sure, I see a jaw bone, maybe something that comes together at a point that could possibly be a nose, and I think there're some indentions in about the place where its eyes would be, but you gotta squint real hard to really make any of this out.
Honestly, I'm still up in arms about its size. I've never felt so small before. I mean, sure I'm not the tallest guy around all the time, but this—this thing right here—it's huge. I don't know what to make of it. It's a monster! A big and scary monster!
“Ran,” oh shoot, I think my voice just cracked a bit. I'm scared. I don't know why I'm scared, but I am. “What the crud is that?”
“Oh Darius, you really don't wanna know.” She immediately grabs my hand and tries to pull me away from the scene. “We've gotta go, like, now.”
“Is it that bad?”
“No, it's a lot worse.”
And then I hear what's possibly the loudest, booming, bass driven sound in my head. It's like my senses are assaulted—appalled even—that such a sound exists. It drowns out everything else. Looking around, it looks like it's hitting the locals too. Everyone who was trying to flee from the scene is forced to stop just to hold their head up.
Man, this is the worst headache ever. I suddenly feel the pull of the planet's gravity bringing me to my knees. I don't think I have the strength to fight it. All because of this stupid headache. It feels like my brain is throbbing through my skull about to burst, and through it all, there's like a loud buzzing, shrilling sound and something else. I hear something that resembles a voice. Oh, what a terrible sounding voice it is. It's a voice I hope to never hear again so long as I live.
“You all have thirty-eight minutes to evacuate the planet. Those remaining will surely perish. This is not a threat, but a warning. Leave now or die on the dirt you stand in.”
Then the shrilling stops and then the rumbling and then the rest of it, and things seem to go back to normal. As bad as all that was, I definitely heard—and understood—every single word.
“Darius, we really have to go.” Ran tugs on me again, this time with much more force.
“What just happened?”
“You see that giant thing sitting on top of that building over there?” She points to the thing. “It just sent out a planet wide mind probe. Scanned your brain for whatever registers as a language and spoke through it.”
“Like telepathy?”
“Like super telepathy. It's giving us thirty-eight minutes, which is a lot more than they usually spare.”
“'They?' Who 'they?'”
“Do you honestly have to ask your questions now?” I can see the worry on her face. Ran's constantly looking back at the still giant to see if it makes any sudden moves. The beast remains stoic for now. Its mind elsewhere, not even taking the time to notice us ants here below.
“That lady right there is a Visigen. They're a race of nomads as old as whatever. They roam the universe looking for and commandeering certain planets. If it suits them, they usually kill all the locals and take it. If it doesn't, the blow it up, plain and simple.”
“And you guys just let them go on like this? Blowin' up worlds, killin' whole races? That's cool with everyone?”
“No, it's not cool, and we—and by 'we,' I mean the powers that run the galaxy and whatnot—don't let them do this. For the most part, Visigens are good people. The government lets them do their thing, but only to planets that're marked. Usually uninhabited worlds, and on the rarest of the rare occasions, planets that present a clear and present danger to everyone around them.”
“So why is it—she—here?”
“I don't know! This planet wasn't marked for anything. The only thing I can think of is it going rogue or something, but right now that doesn't matter. We need to go!”
“No! That's stupid! This is stupid. Thirty-eight minutes isn't enough time to evacuate a planet, especially one that has spots all over the place that change all the time. Most of these people are gonna die.”
“And if we don't get moving right now, we're gonna die too.”
I don't care about what she says from then on out. It just doesn't feel right leaving all these people behind. Besides, Ri'lar's still in the city somewhere, and I certainly can't leave him behind. I've kinda grown fond of the guy. So I pick up my sword and start running.
So many thoughts are rushing through my head right now that I don't know what's really going on. I want to do something to help. I want to help these people get to safety. I want to help them keep their homes. I want to help them stay alive.
And at the same time I wanna help myself. In order to do that, I need to find Ri'lar. He's my ride off world. He's my ride back home. And he's also the only one who's been lookin' out for me so far. If it wasn't for him, I'da been dead so many times already. But then again, this is all sorta his fault, but he's cool enough to actually be responsible about it, and that makes him a pretty cool guy.
Debris continues to fall from the sky as the fires rage more intently by the second. I'm at ground zero of the crash, running straight towards the source. Why am I going towards it? Maybe I can reason with her. Then again, if it is rogue then reasoning'll probably be outta the question. Do I think I can fight it? How tough can she be? Ran says it can blow up a planet, but that doesn't seem to register with me right now. Oh no, don't tell me I think I can actually beat it down. No, no, no, don't tell me that.
No, that's not what I'm goin' for. I'm gonna try an' talk. Find out why it wants to do this whatever thing, see if I can get it to change its mind. If anything, try and get more time—like a day. How long's a day here? Every planet I've been to seems to have different hours. Maybe I should ask for two days to make sure. I don't know.
It's complete chaos around. No sense of order, no sense of anything. All the people are running around like their head's been cut off—at first glance anyway. Then something interesting happens. I see someone coming out a burning building. The tower is definitely on its last leg. No tellin' when it's gonna come crumblin' down, but anyone'll tell you it'll be sooner over later, but, in spite of all that, this guy—this 4 foot green insect lookin' guy right here—don't look like nothin' from nobody, crawling around on its six legs while carrying what looks like a baby or lil' kid in his arms—rushes to get the kid to safety, and then rushes back in the building to—at least I'm assuming—to save whoever else he can. That's pretty cool.
And now that you mention it, there are some police, firemen, and ambulance folks buzzin' around doin' all they can too. Of course there's way more people runnin' around crazy like, but it's nice to know that there're at least a few good guys fightin' the good fight. And just seeing that—just being a witness to that—cements in my mind that I'm not leaving without doin' my part. Still don't know what that part is, but it's gotta be done.
My God, I'm standin' at the thing's foot. She's huge. A lot bigger up close, like fo real. This thing's toe—at least I think its a toe—is like the size of a whole boulder. It is a boulder with how rocky lookin' it is. If I shouted as loud as I could, I don't think she'd even be able to hear me all the way up there.
Wait, doesn't she use telepathy to speak? Couldn't she just read my mind? Is she readin' my mind now? That's one thing I've always hated about those kinda people. Yeah, we got like a couple of 'em back home, and they were always annoying. Talkin' like they know it all just because they read what was in your head like it's some big deal.
I run to the nearest, tallest building I can find that's still standing and take the stairs all the way to the top. I must be really pumped, because, in spite of the heavy gravity, I don't think I've ever ran this fast before. Some crazy adrenaline rushin' to my head. When I reach the top, I don't even stop to take a breath.
I'm on the roof, and it looks like it's just high enough to look at the ol' girl from the neck up. If emotions had a color, I'd be surfin' a rainbow about now. I'm super excited, all anxious, scared for my life of course, tired from the run, happy that I'm about to talk to another alien that should understand me, and worried about what exactly's gonna happen next.
I suck in my gut, take a deep breath and just go for it. No questions asked, just straight up go for it.
“Yo! Really tall—what'd she call you?—Visigen! Yeah, Visigen lady. Let's talk!”
I stand there waiting for a response for like five minutes, and the thing doesn't even budge. It's been standing there, super straight, super tall—almost like them military folk: square shoulders, straight posture, facin' forward at all times. Yeah, this lady is just lookin' all kinds a' lame about now.
“Yeah, I don't think it knows you exist.”
I turn around and see that Ran hasn't abandoned me. I can't tell you how relieved that makes me feel. Whatever her reasons, she's still here and that just—well it more or less distracts me from bein' worried, but still—I guess, I dunno, it just puts my mind at ease to know that whatever I'm tryin' to do, I'm not facing it alone.
She walks up to me, pats my back like I did a good job at somethin'—didn't really do anything, though—and says, “Well, at least you tried. Can we leave now?”
She's trying to play it cool headed. Actin' like she's all smart an' collected, but I can tell—didn't really notice it until she said “leave,” but her voice sorta trailed off. She's worried. Scared and worried. Probably a lot more than me because she actually knows about the thing. I should take that as a sign. Maybe this is God giving me fair warning. I should go. That would be the smart thing. I should go.
“No.” What am I doing? “That's not good enough.” It's like my mouth isn't listening to a single word my head is sayin'. “I'm not leaving until this thing listens to me.”
“Darius, no—”
I look at the giant. “It's cool, Ran.” Now my body's not listening. It's holding up the sword. “I got this.” Both hands on the hilt, pulling it far behind my head like a baseball bat. “But you can leave if you want.” Feet apart, firmly in place... “Cuz I'm about to do something really stupid.” and SWING. I swing that sword like there is no tomorrow.
It cuts right through the air. Everything in front of me becomes super charged. Some blue cackling electric-like energy sporadically appears, and it flies fast—like shot off from a rocket, the pulsating wave flies straight towards the giant's face. It's a smoldering direct hit. I don't much know or even care about the damage. I just wanted the freak's attention. And when I see its eyes start to shine brighter than they did before, I think it's safe to say that I got it.
“Yeah, I'm down here. Right here.” I sound so tough. Ran must think I'm a bully for doin' that. The giant turns its head toward me. Man, it feels weird with it lookin' straight at me, but I just stay cool and keep smiling. “Now, I need you to listen! I know you can understand me. Listen!”
